Thousands of brits forced into two-week quarantine after summer vacation in spain. British transport minister grant shapps is also directly affected: the minister is in spain with his family, his spokesman confirmed to the german press agency.
The quarantine obligation applies not only to the spanish mainland, but also to returnees from the balearic islands and the canary islands, the spokesman explained. Spain is one of the countries where the british prefer to spend their vacations. "We made the decision as quickly as we could", said the british eaves minister dominic raab to the news channel sky news. It was said to have responded to a "gross increase in covid 19 traps" on the spanish mainland. The introduction of mandatory quarantine for returnees is intended to prevent a second wave of infection in the united kingdom.
Great britain is the country most affected by the pandemic in europe. The government is accused of having reacted too late. For the airlines that have suffered greatly from the corona crisis, the obligation to self-isolate is a heavy blow. They now fear new slumps in passenger numbers and thus even more losses.
Great britain had previously set up so-called air bridges with more than 70 countries and overseas territories, which the government in london believes have the pandemic under control. Those entering from these states do not have to be in quarantine. The lists are updated regularly. Since each part of the uk decides on its own pandemic measures, the lists may differ somewhat in some cases.
In the whole of spain, with a population of around 47 million, more than 900 new infections were registered within 24 hours, according to the health ministry in madrid. Almost half of the cases were reported in catalonia and the neighboring region of aragon.
With more than 270.000 detected infections and over 28.400 deaths, spain is one of the worst hit european countries by the pandemic. While the figures fell sharply thanks to drastic reductions in m, they have been declining since the end of the state of emergency on 21. June slowly back up.